The relationship between competence for secretion of H2O2 and completion of tumor cytotoxicity by BCG-elicited murine macrophages.

BCG-elicited macrophages from C3H/HeJ and A/J mice secrete H2O2 comparably to BCG-elicited macrophages from control C3H/FeJ mice in response to the pharmacologic stimulant phorbol myristate acetate. By contrast, BCG-elicited macrophages from C3H/HeJ and A/J mice could not effect tumor cytotoxicity, whereas macrophages from the control C3H/FeJ mice could. When BCG-activated macrophages from C57BL/6J mice were held in culture overnight, their ability to secrete H2O2 in response to the pharmacologic trigger declined 40 to 60%; the presence of endotoxin in the overnight cultures did not alter competence for secretion of H2O2. By contrast, the cultured macrophages lost all of their cytolytic competence, but this competence could be fully maintained by the presence of endotoxin in the cultures. In three distinct circumstances, competence for secretion of H2O23 thus did not correlate with competence for completion of tumor cytotoxicity. The data imply that competence for release of H2O2 is not sufficient for completion of tumor cytotoxicity.